Sisters 'fine' after weekend trapped in elevator with no food, water

VATICAN CITY - A sister from Ireland and a sister from New
Zealand were rushed to a hospital in Rome June 8 after having
spent a weekend trapped in an elevator without food or water.

The 58-year-old Irish religious and the 68-year-old religious
from New Zealand "are fine, but are not speaking to the
press," a receptionist at the Marist Sisters residence in
Rome told Catholic News Service June 9.

Neither sister had a telephone with her when the elevator at
the Marist residence got stuck the evening of June 5, said
Italian press reports based on the police record of the
incident.

No one else was in the residence all weekend, so the sisters'
cries for help went unheard.

A cleaning woman, reporting for work early June 8, called
police, who managed to get the elevator open. The sisters
told the police they had "prayed a lot," according to the
Italian daily, Il Messaggero.

An ambulance took the sisters to the hospital for treatment
of dehydration. The temperatures in Rome over the weekend
reached 90 degrees each day and the sisters had no water or
food with them.